Marshall Ramsey

Fall has arrived and with it, cooler temperatures. Lying on the dew-covered fake grass was almost a shock this morning.  But thankfully Clark found a way to warm us up.  Speaking of warm-ups, I now run 1/2 mile before we even start to loosen up my legs.  As it gets cooler, my legs are getting tighter.  Stretching is becoming more of a priority. The pre-workout run is actually a zen-like experience where I get to focus on getting my mind ready for the next hour.

Clark’s core exercises were tough this morning. But then again, rain is wet and the sun comes up in the East. You kind of expect it.  I screwed one of them up to the point where I know he was frustrated with me.  Honestly, I was trying to make the exercise harder than it was — I guess I don’t expect anything to be easy with Clark.  Also, I’m as dumb as a sack of hammers at 5 a.m.  That said, my core is as strong as it has ever been.  I can tell by looking at it, but my back has noticed it, too. Back pain after long trips has gone the way of the passenger pigeon (which are extinct if you didn’t know.)

Morgan had a nice tricep burnout lined up for us. I got through it pretty well — once again, I can see my progress.  Half burpees, dips on a chair, bear crawls, plank raises, and jumping jacks for a bit of a rest.

The weight room was good. Mike pushed me again. He’s very strong and usually chooses weight I’d probably avoid. Probably my best exercise today was incline bench press.

We then went and ran the W-drill and with a new twist: With 25-lb. bags.  I told my friend Beth (who is one of the best athletes out there), “We used to weigh this much.”  I’ve lost 50 lbs. She has lost over 100.  It’s little psychological tricks like that that help you through the tough times.

We then finished out with an Indian run.  I could have run all day — which was good because we knocked out a mile and then had to run two 100-yard sprints to finish today out.

It was a good workout today.  Partly because of the cooler weather. But honestly, I heard a speech from a Marine who served in the South Pacific. His name was (he has passed away) Eugene Sledge and wrote an amazing book about his combat experiences. On the island of Peleliu, he was on the island for several weeks. It was grueling duty, with 24-a-day combat and temperatures over 115 degrees.  He said he once heard a football player talking about “how tired he was.” He said, “I then cried a room full of tears.”

It’s about perspective.

Leg cramps suck. The worst case of them I’ve ever had was from mile 20 of the Marine Corps Marathon to the finish line. I hit the ground.  It’s pain I won’t soon forget.

My right calf started to cramp when we were doing 100 calf raises with Clark.  But it didn’t. Of all the crazy-ass things we did today, I’m most proud of that.  No cramp = Big victory.

Beth, Liz and I handled the tire in Morgan’s station. How I didn’t leave my back on the turf is a miracle.  But we survived. One of the times, we pushed/pulled the tire — like the mother of all boards. Then we noticed other groups carrying it.  So we carried it the other.  That went quicker.

I do weird stuff at 5 in the morning. I really do. In fact, I don’t even bother to tell my wife what we do. There is no use trying to explain it unless you are there.

The weight room was leg-centric today. Mike pushed me and I even jumped on a box without busting my butt (and shins). I’m not famous for my vertical leap.  I am gravity-challenged.

I can do a good inchworm. My crab walks still are crappy. My frog leaps are decent. Donkey kicks make me sore.  Today was a solid leg workout.

But I’m don’t have leg cramps.

You take your victories where you can get them

This week was one of my favorite weeks at PLS yet.

I started with a 1/2 mile warm-up run.  Clark and Paul recommend one lap around the track to loosen up, but I do two. Mainly because the first lap hurts and I feel better by the second.  That way I’m ready to go when we stretch.

We started with Clark.  Clark, who has the bionic stomach, had us do lots of core work.  He claimed that I said, in this blog, that his station was easy. Um, no.  What I said was, his station is easier now than it was when I was a fat sack of poo who weighed 250 pounds. Clark’s station is never easy. Trust me. But I enjoy it now. I feel like I get a great core workout. And today was one of them.

Morgan, the dominatrix, had us do a mini-endurance run.  That includes three 100-yard passes.  The first has three ladder drills. The second had high-knees, inch-worms (not bear crawls) and hopscotch. The third had shuffling in and out of hurdles, bear crawls and snake drill.  We started over when we finished and kept going.

Then we did our rotation in the weight room.  Today was bicep day.  I will say I was able to straighten out my arms better this time and I got a solid workout.  No back problems — which is a bonus. I feel myself getting stronger.

The last station, which was two combined for 18 minutes was called 21-100.  Here’s how it works:  You sprint to the five-yard line, do one burpee, then back to the goal line. Then you go to the 10  and do two burpees and back to the goal line. After that, it’s off to the 15 and you do three burpees — then back to the goal line. Then you go to the 20 and do four burpees. You get the drill right? Ever five yards, you add a burpee. I made it to 14 burpees, but didn’t start them because time was called. So I only did 91 burpees and ran a lot of yards.

This morning was tiring but rewarding.  In fact, I’d have to say today was one of my favorite workouts in a long, long time. I was a real challenge and I enjoyed it but I’ll admit, I was so tired after the 21-100 that I was dumb as the fake grass on the football field. I had to break everyone down and I forgot how to count to three.

Thank God I made it home alive.

I woke up with a start. I had just had a dream that I had overslept and missed my radio show.  My right eye lazily looked at the clock: It was 3:21 a.m.

I dozed back off until my stomach woke me up. I was sick and it was almost time to wake up to go work out.  So I crawled out of bed early, determined to make my workout.

I got sicker.

I looked at my watch.  I was running late, but still could make it.  I gathered all my stuff together until I hit another roadblock: I could not find my glasses.  I need those to drive in the dark.

And then I got sick again.

By this time, it was 4:50 a.m. and there was no way in Hades that I could make it to the workout. You show up on time to PLS or you don’t show at all.  So I went running. Very close to the house.

I ended up running 5.6 miles.  I got in a good workout and sweated out some of the sins of New Orleans.  I worked through not feeling top notch and plowed through my workout anyway.

There will be days like these.  At least I didn’t miss the radio show.